1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image shooting apparatus that shoots light images of a plurality of split parts of a subject and connects the shot images of the split parts to obtain an image of the entire subject, a method for connecting the shot images, a computer-readable recording medium on which an image processing program is recorded, and an image shooting system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an image shooting apparatus has been widely known that has the function of, to obtain a high-resolution still image, shooting light images of a plurality of split parts of a subject by use of an image shooting sensor and an image shooting lens system and connecting the obtained split images into an image of the entire subject.
There are various methods for obtaining one image by connecting images obtained by split image shooting. First, a method is considered that images obtained by shooting split parts are pasted together at corresponding addresses on the images. According to this method, some parts of the obtained image are missing unless the image shooting positions when the spit images are shot are adjusted with an accuracy in units of pixels.
Secondly, a method is present that split images are shot so as to include overlapping areas and the split images are matched at the overlapping areas to thereby paste the split images together in an appropriate positional relationship. According to this method, since it is necessary to search the entire overlapping areas of the split images for corresponding points after the split images are shot, image processing for connecting the split images takes time.
Thirdly, a method is known that a correction pattern as a correction reference chart is shot together with the original and the positions of the split images are aligned with the shot correction pattern as the reference. According to this method, since it is necessary to place on the original table the correction reference chart where the correction pattern is drawn, the apparatus increases in size. In addition, when it is impossible to shoot the correction pattern together with the original because the original has a size that covers the entire scale, it is impossible to correctly paste the split images together.